CURRENT PROJECTS
Ukraine Agri-Insurance Development Project
Ukraine Corporate Governance Mediation Pilot Project
Ukraine Business Enabling Environment Project
Ukraine Energy Efficiency Survey Project
Vinnytsya Fruit Supply Chain Development Project
COMPLETED PROJECTS
CURRENT PROJECTS
Ukraine Energy Efficiency Survey Project
2008 – present
Supported with funds from the Saxon Technical Assistance Trust Fund and IFC
The main goal of the project is to assess the current market for energy efficiency financing in Ukraine and to raise awareness among local financial institutions, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and policy makers about existing opportunities for energy efficiency financing in the country. Similar surveys have been conducted in Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus.
By identifying best practices in SME energy efficiency and finance, the survey will also provide benchmarks with other countries and might lead to a more comprehensive program to increase energy efficiency in Ukraine and the region.
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Ukraine Corporate Governance Mediation Pilot Project
2008 – present
Supported with funds from the International Finance Corporation
The project is designed to achieve cost and time savings for small, medium, and other enterprises by providing them with an opportunity to effectively resolve their disputes effectively through mediation, and is implemented in cooperation with the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School (kmbs). The project will introduce corporate governance-related mediation to Ukraine through training local mediators and mediating pilot cases on the basis of the Ukrainian Mediation Center established by kmbs. IFC and kmbs will work together to raise awareness among Ukrainian businesses that mediation can be an efficient dispute resolution method and complement the judicial system. The project is also developing a training program on mediation and alternative dispute resolution that will be introduced into the kmbs curriculum.
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Ukraine Agri-Insurance Development Project
2007 - present
Supported with funds from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
The project will facilitate the development of the agri-insurance sector in Ukraine by working with key regulatory, institutional and commercial partners. The project will help improve the regulatory environment for agri-insurance, develop the capacity of insurance companies and work directly with farmers in a pilot implementation program.
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Vinnytsya Fruit Supply Chain Development Project
2005 - present
Supported with funds from the Government of Austria
The project helps strengthen the fruit supply chain in central Ukraine, by working closely with fruit farms to build sustainable linkages with large fruit processors in the region. The project assists local farms to improve farm management and efficiencies, develop good business practices and access finance to meet the increased demands for high-quality fruit in the region.
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Ukraine Business Enabling Environment Project
www.ifc.org/sme_ukraine
2005 – present
Supported with funds from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
The project works to create a favorable environment for the development of small and medium businesses and to improve the overall investment climate in Ukraine.
The main objectives of the project are: to streamline and simplify business inspections and business permits for SMEs; simplify technical regulations (standardization, certification), monitor the business environment through representative surveys; conduct outreach, information and advocacy work to ensure adoption and implementation of reforms.
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The Challenge
The regulatory system in Ukraine (permits, inspections and mandatory certification and standardization procedures), has been a major obstacle to opening and operating businesses in Ukraine. Thus, 100% of goods produced in Ukraine are subject to mandatory standardization requirements, 80-90% of all businesses are inspected each year, over 50% of business have to get at least one permit per year. Reforms have been slow and incomplete, and most procedures still correspond more to the Soviet 'command and control' economy than to a modern market economy. The 2006 World Bank Doing Business Report ranked Ukraine 128th of 175 countries world-wide in terms of ease of doing business.
The IFC Approach
The project works with the government of Ukraine to reform the entire systems of business permits, inspections and technical regulations in order to bring Ukrainian practice in line with international best practice and contemporary European models. The project also cooperates with permit-issuing and controlling agencies to improve their internal procedures.
To monitor the impact of government reforms and provide concrete information on improving the business climate, the project conducts an annual survey of the SME sector to identify the main administrative and regulatory obstacles to SME development. To increase the awareness of SMEs about their rights, the project provides entrepreneurs with easy-to-understand information on regulatory procedures and on their rights and responsibilities as market participants.
Achievements to Date as of July 1, 2008
- The project helped draft and pass 6 pieces of legislation, including Ukraine’s Law on Permits in 2005 and Inspections Law in 2007 – estimated economic impact of the project’s work is $212 million in cost savings for SMEs
- The Law on Permits cut the number of permits from more than 1000 to less than 200, and decreased the time needed to receive permits for the average entrepreneur from 100 to 60 days
- Assisted the government to implement reform of technical regulations, resulting in a shortened list of goods subject to compulsory certification (16 categories out of 400 were eliminated)
- Conducted an advocacy campaign on the need for permit and inspection reform, which resulted in more than 800 media appearances from 2005-2007 and led to the adoption of implementing legislation
- Developed easy to read information materials for SMEs: more than 20,000 brochures on fire permit and 42,000 leaflets and posters to promote self-certification have been distributed or downloaded
